Born To Be
by fictionalforever
Summary: Rapunzel's life has never made sense. It has never been good. The story of a girl lost in the darkest depths of herself, searching for the one thing that has always been missing in her life. Is there a way out of the darkness? An escape from what you are? "Evil isn't born, it's made." Just how true can that be?
1. Chapter 1: Rapunzel

(A/N: Rapunzel has always been one of my favorite fairytales and after watching the Once Upon A Time episode that featured her, I was very disappointed. So I began to write this story, which I think is rather good. In this story, I take elements from every version of Rapunzel I know and somehow it came out being very dark. I encourage you to read and possibly review, I have two possible endings for this story in mind and any comment will probably help me when making my final decision. Hope you enjoy! :D)

Once upon a time, there lived a couple who more than anything wanted a child. As they grew older, they became desperate and sought the help of the Dark One. They journeyed to his castle and told him of their plight. With a devilish grin, the Dark one told them of his magic garden that grew a rare kind of radish. By eating of the radishes, the woman would finally be able to bare a child.

The man and woman rejoiced and offered the Dark One anything he could want of them, knowing that all magic comes with a price. He told the couple that eating the radishes was price enough, and misfortune was sure to come to anyone whose lips touched the cursed plants.

Blinded by joy, the couple did not listen to the Dark One's warnings and went to his garden. The man got on his knees and picked every radish from the ground. They hurried home with their treasure and put them all in a pot to boil. When they were cooked, the couple divided the radishes between them so that both would be able have children.

Sure enough, the woman became pregnant and they rejoiced. Slowly but certainly, they began to notice other things changing around them. The man's hands, roughened by years of hard work, became smooth and nimble. The woman's damaged eyesight became practically perfect. Their crops grew bigger and greener than ever and the cattle were fattened. For nine months everything was perfect, until the baby came.

On a warm summer night, great thunder clouds appeared and destroyed the couple's crops. The next morning, they found vultures feasting on the dead remains of their cattle. The man woke up screaming in the night with his hands spotted and fallen off his body, his wife woke up next to him, blind. The next night it thundered again, and the baby was born.

The mother died slowly, and the father fell dead instantly, and the baby cried. For three days, the child cried alone, only sustained with the power within her. As she cried, radishes grew in the fields, in the flower beds, on the floor boards. Radishes popped up in places they couldn't even grow. They grew big and black, mostly near the child as if answering a call, reaching out to it. The neighbors took what they had and fled, knowing some dark miracle had occurred.

The tale spread, and an evil queen of the land became intrigued. She searched for the house and found it tangled in radishes. She recognized the radishes to be rapunzels, living objects of dark magic. She followed the child's cries and freed it from its dead mother's arms. It was clear what had happened, the parents were foolish enough to eat the rapunzels and make a child. They had created the first human rapunzel.

The Evil Queen smiled down at the child. "Well hello there, Rapunzel."


	2. Chapter 2: The Clearing

From a tall stone tower in the darkest part of the wood, a remarkable young lady sat on the window ledge, her feet dangling and her long golden braid of hair swaying with the breeze. She sat there sharpening her arrows with a stone, making the little sharp scratching sounds with each slide. She looked out into the small clearing around her tower, her eyes hungry. Content with the condition of her arrows, she pulled her hair back inside the window and then secured it on the rod above the window. She secured her bow and arrows on her back and began the descent. Her arms ached with each pull and her legs were stiff coming down. Halfway down, she looked up to the window again and called out, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" A foot below her, a dark green shield flickered in and out of sight for a moment before disappearing entirely. Rapunzel tore a radish growing from the tower wall and threw it down. She watched it carefully pass below the danger point and hit the ground unharmed, only then did she proceed.

When her feet touched the dry ground, she pulled her braid to the far right and it came tumbling down. She gathered it and put it in the sack she had brought down to hang from her back. The sack was heavy but she was used to the weight.

She readied her bow and arrow and began to run. She ran barefoot and wild, as fast as a bird and silent as a fox. She saw a bird fly overhead and swung her arm up to shoot it. The dead bird fell quickly and she snatched it up and threw it in the sack. She continued to run. Somewhere behind her the small cry of a wolf was heard. Her heart beat quickened and she ran faster. At the first sign of movement she shot, not even caring to see what it was. She picked up the rabbit without stopping and threw it in the sack. A wolf cry came from her right and she went left. She continued to run and the cries grew louder, they belonged to a pack.

She ran straight into a clearing and shot at the blurry figure of an unknown creature. Something flashed green and the arrow stopped in the air. Rapunzel gasped and stumbled, falling down. The arrow fell in front of her with no sign of blood. Looking straight in front of her, she saw a pair of odd shoes. As she moved her head up she saw they belonged to a very startled boy. He was accompanied by a blonde woman in a pink coat and another woman.

Regina gasped at the sight of the girl. "Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel looked up at the Evil Queen and stood. Emma pushed Henry back in protection. "Regina, do you know this person?"

Before she could answer, Rapunzel shot an arrow at Regina. She stopped the arrow in the same way as before.

Emma said, "I'll take that as a yes."

"Get Henry out of here. Go now!"

Rapunzel shouted in response. "Don't move! Any friend of the Evil Queen is an enemy of mine. If you listen to her I will consider you my enemy, and you don't want that."

Emma looked at Regina. Regina swallowed. "Do as she says."

Rapunzel stood there, every muscle in her body tense, shaking with anticipation. Hatred shown through her eyes and radiated through her whole body. The ground vibrated and little radishes sprouted up most suddenly. Henry gaped at the mysteries black plants.

Regina shouted "Stay away from the radishes! Rapunzel, we're not here for you, let us go."

Rapunzel's voice was soft and threatening. "Why are you here?"

"We're here by mistake. We're trying to go home."

"Home? I thought your castle was in ruins. No one's seen you for years now. I tried to find you and believed you were dead."

"It was the curse."

"Yes, the curse. It's all because of the curse, right? You destroyed the world before I even had the chance to be a part of it!" Her voice had grown louder until she was shouting at Regina. The wolves had reached them but would not dare to approach when they saw the radishes and retreated.

Henry spoke. "What's she talking about, mom?"

Rapunzel turned suddenly to stare at Henry. "Mom?" She looked back at Regina. "Mom?! You have a child? You?"

"Leave Henry out of this."

"Henry! Ha! I can't believe you! All those years, growing up without love or understanding. I called you mother for seventeen years and not once did you ever love me! I can't believe you'd do that again!" She turned back to Henry. "Take it from me. This woman doesn't love or care about you. You should run from her as fast as you can and hope she doesn't follow. Even if she finds you and kills you, it's better than being her slave."

Regina yelled. "Stop!"

Henry asked, shocked. "Slave?"

"Don't listen to her Henry."

"That's another thing. She'll never let you think for yourself, if you so much as question her she'll silence you in the cruelest ways. She's not a mother. She couldn't be one if it cost her her life."

Regina yelled. "Be quiet!" She stretched out her hand and Rapunzel fell back, she coughed up black liquid, almost like blood.

"Mom?!"

"Regina!"

"I'm sorry."

The three of them started yelling and Rapunzel laughed. "You see what I mean?"

Henry pushed Emma's hand off his shoulder and ran to Rapunzel's side. "I'm sorry. Here." He took off his jacket and tried to clean the blood off her face, she pushed his hand away.

"Don't touch it!" Her eyes and voice softened at his look of concern. "Thank you. But don't ever try to do that. Not with me."

"Why?"

"Henry get away from her now!"

Henry shook his head. "She won't hurt me."

"Henry, you don't know her. Trust me. Her hatred for me is deadly. Her emotions are dangerous and her anger is deadly!"

"Then you shouldn't have hurt her!" Henry stood in front of Rapunzel, as if drawing a barrier between her and Regina. "She needs help."

Emma gave Rapunzel a cautious look and stepped forward. "Can you stand?"

"I think …" She tried to push herself up and fell back down.

Emma took her arm and supported her. "Where do we take you?"

Rapunzel looked at Regina. "She knows."

They all looked at Regina. She didn't like this, but she also didn't see another choice. This Rapunzel was clearly not the same person she had left years ago. This Rapunzel knew her abilities and her hatred had grown even more, Regina could sense it when the radishes grew. She walked ahead towards the tower and memories of those dark twisting paths crawled into her mind, memories of a child she did not care for.


	3. Chapter 3: The Dark One

The Evil Queen watched the child grow happy and carefree. Not a single radish had appeared since that first meeting and the Evil Queen worried that the girl's powers were not as strong as she'd suspected. She feared that the Rapunzel could not keep its presence for long in a human and had weakened and died. She worried constantly, seeing the girl chase butterflies, that she was wasting her time on a useless little girl.

On the child's third birthday, the Evil Queen took her to the Dark One's home. He was surprised by the visit but intrigued by the girl, so he agreed to discuss a bargain. He admitted that a few years ago he had told a couple wishing for a child about the rapunzels. But he was not sure how it would affect the child.

He agreed to do a test on the child, to check for the rapunzel's abilities, on the condition that if she truly was a rapunzel, the Dark One may take a lock of her golden hair. The Evil Queen agreed and the dark One took the child in his arms. She smiled at him, no sign of evil to be seen, only a happy child.

He took the girl out of the Evil Queen's sight and left her hidden in a small dark room. He locked the door and returned to the Evil Queen. When she asked about the child he said it would take time and it would be best for her majesty to leave. The Evil Queen refused and waited in the Dark One's house the whole night. In the morning, he told the Evil Queen what he had done and told her to come with him to see what had happened.

He unlocked the door and looked in. In front of their eyes was a terrible scene. The child sat crying in the center, black blood staining her chewed up hands, and radishes, hundreds of black radishes. Some were as big as pumpkins and others as small as strawberries. The room smelled of blood which oozed from the radishes.

The Evil Queen used magic to lift the girl from the floor and bring her out of the room without having to go in or touch any part of the horrifying room. The Dark One carefully stepped in, avoiding all the blood and radishes, and looked at the wall. He laughed at the sight of a blood painted picture of a little girl being eaten by a monster. He walked back out and smiled brightly at the Evil Queen, saying she had nothing to worry about.

When magic had cleaned the girl, bandaged her hands, and she had stopped crying, the Dark One gathered her in his arms again and sat her down on a stool. He carefully picked up his scissors and snipped a lock of hair from the little girl's head. The hair grew brown in his fingers and so did the hair still on her head. The Dark One stared curiously at the brown hair and told the Evil Queen to not have anyone cut it again. The Evil Queen left with the little girl, now aware of her natural power.

(AN: Hello there! So I have decided to continue this story and thought it might be helpful to explain the structure I've set up. In this story, every other chapter will be told in the present in the way you would expect a modern day novel to be written with dialogue and such, chapter 2 is the first chapter in this style. In between the normal present day chapters will be chapters like this, told in a very vague fairytale style and all of them explaining Rapunzel and Regina's backstory. Thank you for reading!)


	4. Chapter 4: Come Into My Tower

Regina stopped at the bottom of the tower. "Alright Blondy. It's been nice seeing you but how about you climb back up to your tower so we can be on our way?"

Rapunzel let go of Emma and stood on her own perfectly fine. "Sorry. I don't do what you tell me anymore." Emma took a few steps away from her. "Where are you going anyway? There's nothing left in this world worth going to."

"In this world maybe, that's why I want to go back to the one I made."

"You made? What are you talking about?"

"Not really any of your business. Now run along, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel took a step towards Regina and she stepped back. Rapunzel smiled. "Isn't it a wonder, how we've switched places? I spent so many years wanting to get away from you, and here you are scrambling to run away from me. I guess your oh-so-perfect plan didn't quite work out for you?"

"I'm sorry I hurt you. Now go back to your tower and we'll leave."

"Not just yet. I want to know where you're going."

Henry spoke. "Why don't you come with us?"

Regina yelled. "Henry! Be quiet."

"Why are you so afraid of her?"

"She tried to shoot me with an arrow."

Emma spoke. "In all fairness I'm sure a lot of people have wanted to shoot you with an arrow."

"Swan, you're not helping."

"But you've changed, surely once this girl sees that she can forgive. I'm the one supposed to bring back the happy endings, and my job's not finished until she gets hers."

Rapunzel spoke. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I'm interested. Tell me how you're planning to get my happy ending."

"Emma, do not tell her anything! She is far more dangerous than any one you have ever faced!"

"She's a teenage girl!"

"She's a monster!"

Henry yelled over his two moms. "Everyone has a chance at redemption! We can't just ignore someone who needs our help."

Rapunzel smiled at Henry and Emma. "I'm finding you two far more agreeable than my dear old mother. What do you say we talk alone for a bit?" Rapunzel snapped her fingers and Regina disappeared.

"Mom!"

"Regina! What did you do to her?!"

"Relax. She's just taking a nap in the tower."

"Bring back my mom!"

"Oh, but she's my mother too, I guess that makes me your big sis. So listen to your big sis and stop whining, and start talking."

Emma spoke. "We'll agree to help you, if you promise to not interfere with any of us, including Regina. Now do as Henry says and bring her back."

Rapunzel eyed her. "I think you tell me what you know first, and then I'll decide if it's worth restraining myself from killing that monster."

"You're starting sound like more of a monster than she is."

Rapunzel paused. "You're right of course." She took a step towards Emma. "And that's exactly why I need a happy ending, fast."

The tea wasn't half bad, but it didn't even compare to granny's hot cocoa with cinnamon. Regina slept silently in the bed in the corner surrounded by curtains. The walls were covered from top to bottom with paintings and the little corner she called a kitchen was littered with filthy pots and pans. Emma suddenly wondered when was the last time the cup she was sipping out of was cleaned. She put down her tea cup, no longer thirsty and watched Rapunzel look at Henry.

He was clearly uncomfortable by the situation since she had kept staring at him for a while now. Emma coughed, trying to get her attention. Rapunzel was unfazed. She coughed again and Rapunzel suddenly looked at her.

"What? Was there something wrong with the tea?"

"No, I'm just kind of uncomfortable with you staring at my son for so long."

Rapunzel blushed and looked away apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not used to new faces."

"What's wrong with mine? You haven't been looking at me excessively."

"Yours is much easier to capture."

"Capture?"

Her blush deepened. "I have a … habit. Had it since I was a little girl. I like to memorize the faces of anyone I see and paint them. That way I know I won't have to lose them."

"You want to paint us?"

She smiled. "I want to paint everything. Especially people. They're all so interesting, and I don't really come by them often."

Emma spoke still a bit uncomfortable. "Right. Do you maybe want to explain whatever it is with you and Regina."

Rapunzel looked at Emma. "I don't think that's a story you really want to hear. And it's certainly not one I'd be too happy to tell."

"Look, Rapunzel … I want to help you, but first I have to understand what's going on."

Rapunzel sat back. "Ask your questions and I'll answer what I want."

Emma cleared her throat. "Okay, why do you say Regina's your mother."

"Cause she pretended to be."

"Why?"

"To use me, isn't it kind of obvious?"

"Okay. But Rapunzel's story says you're supposed to be saved by a prince, so what happened?"

Rapunzel furrowed her eyebrows. "What? What prince? What story? What are you talking about?"

"Oh right. Well let's just say there are some people from my world who wrote stories about you, and in them you get saved by a prince."

She scoffed. "Well I don't know what people from your world could possibly know about me but I can assure there have been no princes and certainly no saving."

"So what? You're still trapped in this tower?"

"Yes. Just not in the same way as before. When the Evil Queen was still in my life I was trapped in because her magic. I found a way around it, but there's no point in me leaving this place when there's nothing for me out there. So really it's still her fault. She destroyed the world and left me here to suffer in it."

Henry spoke. "Listen. I know this must be hard for you, but our mom has changed. She's not the person you knew her to be."

"Oh yeah? Then why did she try to hurt me? Why did she try to keep you from telling me about this 'new world'?"

"She's just frightened. Frightened you won't forgive her."

"Good. Let her fear me. She has good reason to."

Emma spoke. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you come with us if you still want to hurt someone."

Rapunzel stared at Emma. "You have to. Because if someone doesn't help me I'll do far worse than kill an Evil Queen."

"What are you talking about?"

"I really think the boy ought not to hear this."

"No I want to."

"Oh but you really don't. I'm losing it you see? Regina's curse, it weakened the magic around this tower that's why I can get out. But it also weakened the spells she put on me. Those radishes back there, they pop up everywhere. Every morning I find more of them and pull them out and burn them, but each time there are more, they've been growing bigger, and each time they're harder to pull out. I'm afraid one morning I won't be able to pull any of them out, and they'll just stay there and get bigger."

"Rapunzel, why are you so afraid of radishes?"

"You don't understand, they're not just radishes, they're like me, and I think they're coming because of me. It happened a few times before but Regina always stopped them with a spell. But it gets worse. I'm getting more powerful, every day. I don't know how to stop it."

"Rapunzel, I still don't understand."

"It's … hard … to explain. I just know that there's something I need, something I'm missing, something I've always missed, but now I need it more than ever, before the darkness takes over."


	5. Chapter 5: Flower Gleam And Glow

The Evil Queen was more careful with the girl from then on, she kept a magic light night by her bed and sang her a lullaby each night so that the child would not become frightened and repeat the scene from the Dark One's home. She watched her carefully, no longer worried about a loss of power, but now frightened of the power within.

It was a pleasant spring day that the little girl found a bird with an injured wing. She cradled it in her arms and ran to the Evil Queen, asking her to sing to the bird. The Rapunzel sang along to the lullaby, the ends of her hair brushing the birds feathers.

_Flower gleam and glow_

_Let your power shine_

_Make the clock reverse_

_Bring back what once was mine_

The Evil Queen stared in amazement at the glow surrounding the child and the bird. The child continued to sing alone.

_Heal what has been hurt_

_Change the fates design_

_Save what has been lost_

_Bring back what once was mine_

_What once was mine_

The glow disappeared and the child smiled happily. The bird stood on her hand, completely fine. The Evil Queen grabbed the child's wrist and demanded to be told what she had done. The girl began to cry and would not speak. She only stopped her crying when the Evil Queen returned the bird to the little one's arms, and still she would not speak.

They returned to the Evil Queen's home and the bird was put in a cage by the little girl's bed. The Evil Queen wondered and worried about these healing powers, and she could not sleep that night. She stayed up and watched the girl sleep peacefully beside her bird. When the sun rose, sleep overpowered the Evil Queen and she went to rest, it did not last long though.

She woke to the Rapunzel shaking and poking her arms, something else was in her other hand. She told the little girl to show her what was wrong and the Evil Queen stared in horror. Clenched in the Rapunzel's hand was the bird, now unrecognizable, for the wings and legs and beak had all been torn off and blood soaked the feathers and dripped from the little girl's hand onto her dress.

She looked up at the Evil Queen with tears in her eyes and whispered that they needed to sing to it again. The Evil queen snatched the dead bird away and threw it in the fire, the girl screamed as she began a temper tantrum. The Evil Queen hit the girl and demanded to know why she had killed the bird. The little girl only screamed in response. The Evil Queen then grabbed her wrists and dragged her into a dark closet, closing the door shut.

At first there was silence from inside. The Evil Queen yelled to the inside of the closet, saying she could only come out when she was ready to explain. No sound came from inside. The Evil Queen called the girl's name and opened the door slightly to peek inside.

She screamed as the Rapunzel's small dainty hands wrapped around the Evil Queen's arms and pulled her to the floor with force. The little girl shoved the dead, burned bird in the Evil Queen's face and demanded they sing to it.

Shaking, the Evil Queen took the bird in her hand and began singing the lullaby, the little girl joined along, touching her hair to the bird. It glowed once more, and the bird stood up perfectly fine and began chirping. The little girl smiled and put the bird back in the cage.

The Evil Queen spent every night watching the bird from then on. She went a week with no sleep, waiting for something to happen. One night she watched as the bird stood perfectly still, and it seemed as though it's wings and legs and beak all were pulled apart by something unseen and the bird continued to screech. Even as blood soaked the poor things feathers, a flame erupted around the bird and burned it away until only ash remained. The Evil Queen, shocked and horrified, went and stared in at the cage.

Rapunzel then sat up in bed and whispered that they had to sing to it again.


	6. Chapter 6: It Wasn't

Rapunzel didn't know what she had been expecting. Maybe some kind of Utopia where the past somehow didn't matter and all her inner turmoil would melt away. She found no such haven in Storybrooke. They all seemed to regard her with suspicion and pity, neither of which she enjoyed. They talked about 'finding her a family' and 'getting her caught up in school' as if that were a necessity. They seemed to be thinking 'if we can get her these things she won't be our problem anymore'. They didn't seem to care about or respect the fact that she had spent nearly her whole life fending for herself and had taught herself everything she deemed necessary to know through experience and books.

They at first tried to make her live with Emma and her parents, but she ran away to the clock tower. At first they had protested and tried to make her go back, but she knew they would rather her live somewhere else. Eventually they stopped and said she could stay there temporarily until a permanent home could be found. Rapunzel knew, however, that they all knew no such home would be found. Rapunzel liked the clock tower. The librarian, Belle, was not entirely comfortable with someone living there, but she held her piece with the assurance it was temporary. The clock tower was about the tallest place in town so it felt very homey to Rapunzel. It had been empty until she got her hands on a mattress and some basic art supplies.

All of the things she acquired was through the charity of others, she hated it, she knew it was because they pitied her and she hated it. She tried to get a job, but no one seemed to want her around. No one, except for Henry mills. He always was finding her here and there and stopping to ask her how things were. He asked her to try to reconcile with Regina. He asked her about her art, her feelings, her magic … he just kind of asked a lot. Rapunzel didn't usually know how to respond. Sometimes it made her happy because there was someone who seemed to treat her normally, angry because his nagging was annoying, uncomfortable because he asked personal questions and always brought up Regina, and guilty because she could not accept the idea of a friendship. He asked to see the clock tower and she made excuses to keep him out.

It was strange, she had spent her whole life wanting to be with people, but now they were everywhere and all she wanted was to be alone. She would walk outside and there they would be, people just casually going about their lives, heedless of the gift it is to be them.

Every once in a while she would run into Regina. They never spoke and rarely made eye contact, but even so, just by the way they both stood or walked or sat or did anything of any kind, there seemed to be a kind of communication of threats between the two. Others sensed it, and would go silent when they became aware of the dangerous atmosphere. Rapunzel was now certain of the fact Regina feared her, and her silent threats were a ploy of bravery. The strange thing was that Rapunzel had no reason not to hurt Regina, and yet the thought rarely occurred to her and was always short lived. What would be the point? What could she possibly gain by an act of violence? But there was another factor, a fear, not of Regina, but of the outcome of a violent act.

Rapunzel tossed and turned in her sleep and remembered each movement she made as if she were awake and yet she remembered dreaming. Her dreams were of a kind that should never be spoken, in the depths of her unconscious there lied a darkness that was gradually reaching into her consciousness. Her artwork had become wild and unintelligible. Each stroke of the brush she had the sensation of cutting through someone's flesh and the idea excited her in a terrifying lunatic way. She found that she hated the happiness of others and thought only of the pain she could inflict on them. Even as her hatred spread she would laugh in an uncontrolled rampage of excitement. The next moment the laughter would stop and she would feel a kind of gnawing emptiness.

Her moods would swing uncontrollably and only one thing remained constant. Henry. His presence seemed to calm her maddened hatred, but with that numbed she would instead feel an intense sorrow. She wondered if she had always been insane, and if so why it was getting worse now. She remembered in her youth feeling happy and a desire to bring happiness, but as that happiness was taken away from her she also began to want to take away others' happiness. She found herself desperate for the love of others and also enraged by their acts of compassion which seemed to be out of their sense of what they should rather than what they want to. At moments she would find herself blinded by the sun and wonder how this life was better than how she had lived before.

It wasn't.


	7. Chapter 7: Cottage In The Woods

The evil queen traveled to the darkest part of the wood. There she cast a spell on the ground and a stone cottage began to assemble itself in front of her. She cleared the surrounding area with another spell and inspected the cottage. There were no windows or cracks in the stone walls that could give light or offer escape, only a heavy stone door that stood at the front of the house. She opened the door magically with a wave of her hand and entered. The darkness made way to the light of a fire in the hearth. The evil queen walked the length of the house, magically building furniture where it was needed. When she was finished, the inside of the cottage was round, two beds and a bedside table occupied the space to the right, a small stove, water bucket, and shelf to the left made up the kitchen, a bookshelf stood against the wall directly opposite the door, and a mirror and wardrobe stood across from the beds.

That evening she returned, the young rapunzel in her arms. After the girl had accepted the death of the bird she'd tried to heal, the evil queen had realized how little control she had over the child. The girl had sent a bird to its death and brought it back from the dead twice, the evil queen had no control, but could only watch as each death became more gruesome. She had taken the child in the first place to use her powers, it was time to do what she had always intended to and tame the monster.

The little girl told the evil queen she did not like the wood, that she wanted to go home. The evil queen told her that this was home now, that they would not go back for many years. The rapunzel screamed and cried, throwing herself on the floor in a tantrum, demanding they leave. The evil queen punished her with magic and the crying and screaming stopped. After that, the little girl did not cry or speak, and the evil queen began to notice strange radishes growing near the cottage. She burned them with magic repeatedly but each time they came back larger and in greater numbers, they were getting closer to the cottage. The evil queen took the child and showed her the radishes, she told the girl to make them go away.

The little girl smiled, a smile the evil queen had seen many times in the mirror. She spoke for the first time in days and said that if mommy didn't like the flowers they could always go home, there weren't any at home. The evil queen trembled, this was not a childish game, the rapunzel was threatening her. She remembered the bird dying time and time again, completely out of her control. Her bravery quivered for a moment, she thought of giving into the little girl's demands. Then she remembered who and what she was, she was the evil queen, enemy of Snow White, no little girl no matter how powerful would stand in her way.

She simply pushed the little girl into the radishes. At first the girl remained still and the evil queen feared she had died. Then the body began to writhe and the ground shook. The evil queen stumbled back as the little girl slowly stood. She turned around and her whole body was wrapped in thick dark green roots and dangling radishes, the dark plants pulsed like a heart beat. They seemed to be a part of her, as if her body somehow gave the radishes life.

The little girl laughed insanely and walked toward her mother. The evil queen ran from the child and locked herself inside the cottage. She waited, her heart pounding as she heard the girl circling the cottage from outside. There were no cracks or windows to go through and the door was far too heavy for her. She continued to circle the cottage over and over for hours. Finally, the sky turned into night.

The little girl sat outside the door and started crying for her mother. The evil queen smiled and went to the door, she said that if the rapunzel promised to never again ask to leave the cottage, she would let her back in from the dark and cold and she could be with her mommy. The little girl sniffled her tears and said yes, so the evil queen opened the door and the gold haired child ran into her arms.


	8. Chapter 8: Help Me

Henry's footsteps echoed through the clock tower as he made his way up the stairs. Rapunzel quickly stopped what she was doing and frantically gathered up her art to hide under the mattress.

Henry's head appeared from the stairs, "What are you doing?"

Rapunzel stood up and brushed her paint smeared hands on her smock. "Nothing."

"Were you painting? You don't need to stop."

"I was just finishing anyway."

Henry made his way up the rest of the stairs. "Where is it?"

"I put it away."

"Can I see it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Rapunzel slammed her supply box shut. "What are you doing here?"

Henry took off his backpack and searched for something inside. He took out a book and held it up for Rapunzel to see. She read the cover; _The Hobbit. _

"You know I live above a library, right?"

"I-I know … but I thought you might like to borrow it. And when you're done we can go to Granny's to talk about it and have hot chocolate. Or we could sit by the dock. Or hike one of the nature trails. Or … a-anything you want to do." She walked over to Henry and took the book from him. "I know you'll love it. It's a classic."

"What is it about?"

"It's about a hobbit, which is sort of like a dwarf except there are dwarves in the book that are nothing like hobbits, and he does with these dwarves on an adventure. It's kind of like a fairytale."

Rapunzel put the book back in Henry's hands. "Sorry. I don't like fairytales."

"Why not?"

Rapunzel hesitated. "Because they always lie." Rapunzel turned around and began walking away, expecting Henry to leave.

Henry ran after her and cut her off. "You're wrong. Just look at Storybrooke! Almost everyone here comes from a fairytale, how is that a lie?"

Rapunzel felt her anger bubble up inside her. "We're here because of a curse! We should be in the Enchanted Forest living happily ever after not shopping at supermarkets and paying electric bills!" Rapunzel started breathing heavily. She could feel herself beginning to lose control. _No. Not now. Not with Henry here. _

"But Rapunzel you can be just as happy here as you can be any …."

"No I can't! Don't you get it? I can't be happy anywhere!"

Henry reached for Rapunzel's hand. "Rapunzel …"

Rapunzel scratched his arm and he backed away clutching the bleeding gash she had left. Rapunzel turned the other way and hid her face in her hands.

"OW! Rapunzel what are you …?"

"I'm sorry! Please leave. You need to leave!"

"Why are you ….?"

"Go away Henry!" She started crying.

He walked towards her. "Rapunzel …"

"Stop! Don't look at me! Don't look at me!"

Henry stopped where he was, stunned by what he saw. Dark green lines slowly seemed to grow up her arms as far as he could see. He saw the outlines of them grow from under her shirt as they thickened.

"Henry get out! Please, oh please get out!"

Henry ran down the stairs and out into the street. "Help! Help! Someone help!"

Hook started running from down the street. "Hook!"

"Henry what's wrong? What happened to your arm?!"

"It's Rapunzel. There's something wrong with Rapunzel."

"I'll call your mom. Now go home and take care of your arm."

"My arm's fine. We need to help her."

When Emma and David arrived Hook and Henry were already inside the clock tower. Henry was pacing the floor. "She was here. I saw her. It was like she was covered in green ropes or something."

"What else did you see?"

"That's it, she wouldn't turn around."

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know. We were outside we would have seen her leave."

"But Rapunzel has magic, she could have transported herself somewhere else."

"Then we'll start searching Storybrooke."

David put his hand on Henry's shoulder. "Don't worry, Henry, we'll find her."

Regina was sitting at her desk looking over a file and sipping a glass of apple cider. Rapunzel watched from the hall. She remembered quite clearly what the Evil Queen's apples tasted like. The Evil Queen would bring her baskets of them by the dozen when they were in harvest. She made ciders, pies, muffins, caramel covered apples, and many other foods out of the Queens treasured fruit.

Rapunzel took a step and the floor creaked beneath her. Regina looked up and gasped. She stood up with a start and looked ready for a fight. Rapunzel glanced carelessly to the radishes now growing up and down the Queen's hallway. "Sorry for the mess." She stepped inside the office, dragged her hair out of the hallway, and closed the door behind her.

Regina looked her up and down. Prickly vines could be seen wrapped tightly around her arms and neck and radishes sprouted along them and in clusters at the ends of her fingers. Regina swallowed. "I figured you would lose it sooner or later. Have you come to kill me?" Rapunzel took another step and Regina tensed up. "I wouldn't come any closer if …."

"Help me."

Regina paused. "Excuse me?"

"You stopped it before, when I was little, you can stop it again."

Regina was stunned. "Help you? You actually think you have the right to demand my help?"

"Yes, I do. I have more of a right than anyone."

"You've tried to kill me dozens of times."

"You enslaved me!"

"Of course I did! Of all the horrible things I've done in the past, keeping you locked up was probably the kindest thing I ever did! Look at yourself! You're a monster! I did the world a favor by imprisoning you."

The radish vines began to grow into the room from under the door, their radishes dripping blackness on the floor. Regina stepped back cautiously.

"Don't cross me, _Mother. _You have no control over me here. I'm more powerful than you and you know it. You have two options; help me or I'll …"

"Or what, you'll kill me? You're too scared. You would have done that by now if you really had the guts." Rapunzel smiled, and she felt as though someone else was talking for her. The words came out before she even realized what she was saying.

"No. I'll kill Henry."


	9. Chapter 9: Winter

As the rapunzel grew older, the Evil Queen spent less and less time in the cottage. She had a kingdom to run and her search for Snow White had to be continued. The little girl learned to care for herself and found ways of occupying herself. She would venture by herself into the woods and search for colorful flowers and berries, she filled jars of mud, stuffed grass into her pockets, and daringly took honeycombs from the beehives. She would then return to the cottage and create paints. She painted the walls, the furniture, and the outside of the cottage. She copied the pictures in her books; illustrations from children's books and cook books. She painted landscapes of the woods and the cottage. She even practiced self-portraits and attempted to paint her mother from memory. She also spent much of her time maintaining her hair, which grew all the way down to the floor. She learned to braid flowers into her hair and would dance around the cottage singing. For a time she was very happy in the cottage, although she always hoped eagerly for her mother's visits, but things changed in the winter of her seventh year.

In fall, the Evil Queen visited and brought with her dozens of apples. She stayed for nine days and left without any kind of goodbye on the tenth night. As the weeks passed the forest grew colder and the garden died. As the days grew shorter the presence of the wolves increased. The rapunzel dared not leave the cottage except for a few hours at midday, and she struggled between the decision to spend her time gathering firewood or food. Many of the animals went into hibernation or were scared away by the wolves and there was little left to hunt. She worked herself tirelessly all through the midday, gathering what little she could carry and running back to the cottage quickly and then going back out for more.

No matter how hard she tried she always fell short of her needs. Even as she grew weak from cold, hunger, and exhaustion, the worst was still to come. The first snow falls began in late-December which made hunting even more difficult. Even walking through the snow was a struggle and she could not go back and forth between the woods and cottage fast enough to gather anything substantial. She grew thinner and by the beginning of January she could feel herself becoming sick. Despite her decreasing health she continued to struggle for food and firewood. She could now only gather enough for one meal a day which she ate in the evening. She lit the hearth an hour after sunset and cooked whatever she had above it. She would sit as close to the fire as possible since there was never enough wood to fuel a fire to warm the whole cottage. The ate her dinner right there on the floor and kept the fire going as long as possible, but eventually it would die and she would be forced to sleep in the cold. Her condition grew worse as the sickness drained what little strength remained. Finally in late January, she prepared herself to go into the woods and could not even make it out of the clearing. She fell into the snow and could not at first find the strength to stand up again. She lay there weeping from pain and hunger as the snow blew around her and bit into her skin. Only when she heard the wolves' cry could she find the strength to return to the cottage.

At last, the true devastation came. The blizzard raged for four days and buried the woods in snow. The rapunzel was very cold, and very hungry, and very ill, but as she lay in her bed slowly dying, there was one feeling that overpowered the rest. Anger. Where was her mother? What could she possibly be doing as her daughter died all alone in the forest? Radishes grew into the cottage. They covered the floorboards, twisted and turned their way up the walls, hung from the rafters, they wrapped themselves around her bed. Four years of magic and training were undone in four days, everything the Evil Queen had done to tame the rapunzel's power was destroyed.

She ripped the radishes from their vines and dug her teeth into them. She tore through them wildly like an animal and the vines and radishes reappeared on her body just as they had done four years earlier. They dangled at her fingertips and wove their way into her tangled hair. When the blizzard stopped she left the cottage wearing nothing but her thin night gown, not even a pair of socks on her feet. As she made her way towards the woods the snow melted in front of her to clear a path and radishes grew behind her.

She walked south for nine hours, not even caring when night fell and surrounded the woods in total darkness. The wolves found her of course. A whole pack of them surrounded her, three of them jumped on her at once. They bit her and immediately howled in pain. The radishes and vines they had dug their teeth into bled blackness that filled the wolves' mouths and burned them. They fell dead within seconds. The pack ran away in terror leaving the rapunzel alone. She got on her knees beside one of the dead wolves. She smiled as she felt her teeth and nails grow longer and sharper. She tore the dead wolf apart and ate it raw. When she had finished with the one she moved onto the other two.

The little girl who had once begged to save the life of a bird was forgotten. This was something else entirely. The rapunzel wandered the forest alone and went far from the little stone cottage in the clearing. She was no longer a little girl, and would never be one again. She was a monster. She was Rapunzel.

(A/N: Not really sure if anyone is still reading this but if you are I hope you're enjoying it!)


End file.
